Just read where 70-80% of Italian Jews survived the war by being sheltered mainly by average Italians.
Re Sister Roszak. God bless her for being such a brave human being in the face of one of the worst religious holocausts in history.
Re the Italians and their Jewish citizens. Sy Rotner made a wonderful documentary about how the southern Italians (who were not under direct Nazi-rule/occupation, protected their Jewish neighbors by hiding them or taking them into their families.
One story which sounds plausible was that the Catholic Bishop or Cardinal for that region of Italy asked the Pope what he should do or could do to save his fellow Jewish citizens. The Pope, under a lot of Nazi pressure not to protect Jews in occupied Europe, reportedly told him to do what he thought was best.
With that ambiguous answer, this Cardinal/Bishop ordered his parishioners to help save the Jews and that his how it went.
If anyone can locate the movie or has seen it (I saw it about 20-25 years ago), I’d love to hear your impressions about it.
Thanks to all our brave Italian heroes for defying the Germans and Italian Fascists by saving their Jewish friends.
Re Sister Roszak. God bless her for being such a brave human being in the face of one of the worst religious holocausts in history.
Re the Italians and their Jewish citizens. Sy Rotner made a wonderful documentary about how the southern Italians (who were not under direct Nazi-rule/occupation, protected their Jewish neighbors by hiding them or taking them into their families.
One story which sounds plausible was that the Catholic Bishop or Cardinal for that region of Italy asked the Pope what he should do or could do to save his fellow Jewish citizens. The Pope, under a lot of Nazi pressure not to protect Jews in occupied Europe, reportedly told him to do what he thought was best.
With that ambiguous answer, this Cardinal/Bishop ordered his parishioners to help save the Jews and that his how it went.
If anyone can locate the movie or has seen it (I saw it about 20-25 years ago), I’d love to hear your impressions about it.
Thanks to all our brave Italian heroes for defying the Germans and Italian Fascists by saving their Jewish friends.